(Clearwisdom.net)

HD 47536: The most massive star found so far with a known planet.

According to BBC news online, astronomers have discovered a planet which they think will soon be consumed by the giant star it orbits.

The planet orbiting HD 47536 has a mass of about 5 to 20 times that of Jupiter. Its orbit is approximately 300 million kilometers in radius (roughly twice the distance from Earth to the sun), and it takes 712 days to orbit the star, somewhat less than two Earth years. Planets have been found around tree giant stars before (HD 27442, Iota Draconis, and Gamma Cephei), but none of these comes close to the size of HD 47536. HD47365 may be as much as three times the mass of the sun and has diameter of 33 million kilometers, 24 times of that of the sun. It is more than ten million kilometers wider than any star known to have a planet. HD47365 is the biggest star found to date which has a planetary companion.

"We are very excited about this discovery," said Luco Pasquini, a member of the discovery team, "because it now widens the search for extrasolar planets towards more massive stars."

Astronomers believe that in a few tens of millions of years from now - a short period on the cosmic timescale - HD 47536 will incinerate and then engulf its nearby planet.

Many astronomers expect the Sun to do the same thing with Earth -- but in a few billion years' time.

Reference:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2697917.stm

http://www.astronomy.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/001/183syxbv.asp

Category: Perspective